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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23237818">before it ends just tell me where to begin</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstaudrina/pseuds/firstaudrina'>firstaudrina</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Missing Scene, Rituals, Witchcraft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 13:53:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>931</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23237818</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstaudrina/pseuds/firstaudrina</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Moments like this made Sabrina feel like she really could give her heart to Nick Scratch, sometime.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nicholas Scratch/Sabrina Spellman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>87</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>before it ends just tell me where to begin</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for a prompt on tumblr. Set during “Chapter Sixteen: Blackwood,” right before Nick goes to retrieve Edward Spellman’s manifesto. Just a weird little bit of witchy ritual. Love a ritual.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sabrina lit red candles in her bathroom, one by one, while Nicholas slipped the buttons free from his shirt. The times when she’d imagined this scenario — late at night, or absently in the bath, picturing his half-smile while his clothes slid away — she never thought it would happen like this. She’d hoped for slow kisses, a hand sliding up her thigh.</p>
<p>Silly Sabrina, expecting romance when all she got were elaborate plans to reveal deception to the Antipope. </p>
<p>“You don’t have to do this,” she assured Nick severely. Traveling to the fathoms-deep site of her parents’ crashed plane to retrieve a waterlogged manifesto that had been hiding for sixteen years — that was a favor it was going to be tough to repay. “I can do it. Or — or we can find a spell that makes sure <i>no one</i> has to risk drowning in the ocean just to —”</p>
<p>“Spellman,” Nick interrupted with a little smile, his head tilted. His shirt off now, hanging on the hook on the door next to Sabrina’s robe. His skin shining in the glow from the candles, his hair so glossy and dark. “I’m doing it. I can hold my breath under water for four minutes. I got this.”</p>
<p>Sabrina knelt beside the bathtub and twisted the taps, the sudden rush of water against porcelain drowning out her busy brain. “The water pressure —” she started, voice almost lost.</p>
<p>Nick folded to his knees on the other side of the tub. “Won’t be a problem if we take precautions.” He picked up the little basket of herbs and powders Sabrina had assembled, shaking it slightly so it made an earthy, rustling noise. He smiled again, like it was all so easy. “And I think you’ve got half the garden in here, so we’re good.”</p>
<p>With a wry shake of her head, Sabrina rose to take it from him. “No time like the present, huh?”</p>
<p>They sat knee-to-knee on her cold bathroom floor, facing each other on the hard tiles. Sabrina let a splinter of palo santo catch in a candle flame and then burn out, wafting its smoke in gentle circles around herself and Nick and the half-full tub. “Palms up,” she said softly and Nick obeyed, his posture very straight but mouth amused, as though he had a natural desire to be mischievous but was trying to be very good instead.</p>
<p>Sabrina crushed a clove of garlic and a sliver of ginger with a mortar and pestle before dipping her fingers into the released juices. Garlic would protect him, and ginger would hasten his trip. She traced symbols of luck and success on Nick’s palms, leaving behind a near-invisible sheen. The room was hushed, a quiet too gentle to break, so Nick whispered, “Are you still going to want to kiss me if I smell like stir fry after this?”</p>
<p>Sabrina pushed up slightly and kissed him, to make her answer abundantly clear. </p>
<p>She stood to sprinkle a generous circle of salt around Nick, then let the crystals sink into the bathwater, glimmering and disappearing as soon as they hit the surface. She murmured Latin incantations to bless his journey and keep him safe, Nick repeating them half a second after her like a low echo. Their voices merged and blended in the little room, stopping only when Sabrina came to stand behind Nick. She wanted to kiss the nape of his neck. She put her hands on his shoulders then let her arms slide around his neck, reaching around him for the little basket.</p>
<p>She shook a handful of fennel seeds out of a small jar and held them to his mouth. “Fennel for focus,” she recited, as Nick dutifully parted his lips for them. It was also good for keeping anyone from interfering, an added bonus. Nick would swim stealthy and true and be back before she knew it. Sabrina didn’t accept any other outcome. “And —” She plucked a whole nutmeg seed out and slid it into his pocket. “Usually Ambrose likes to carry around nutmeg to win at card games, but any little bit, right?” </p>
<p>Nick turned his head to thank her with a kiss. It was so unselfconscious and sweet that it made Sabrina feel like she really could give her heart to Nick Scratch, sometime. When it was just the two of them, the itch of insecurity didn’t irritate her too much.</p>
<p>“You’re the only person I’d trust to do this,” she said, and surprised herself with it being true. She knew he would honor her father’s work because he felt it was the right thing to do. Even if he didn’t care about her, he would do that. </p>
<p>Nick’s face did a strange thing: he swallowed hard, his mouth contorting, and then he gave her such a tremulous smile that she felt her pulse skip. “You’re the only one I’d trust to do <i>this</i>,” he said, and held her salt-gritty hands against his chest. His heart beat steady into her palm.</p>
<p>“What? Keep you safe?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Nick said. “Yes.”</p>
<p>Sabrina buried a smile against the curve of his shoulder. “Four minutes, huh? You swear?”</p>
<p>“Stick a needle in my eye.” He curled his hands around the edge of the tub and looked at her, taking an inhale-exhale of preparation. “See you on the other side, Spellman.” </p>
<p>He stepped barefoot into the tub and sank, just like that, out of sight. Salem mewled warningly from the door.</p>
<p>“I know, I know,” Sabrina fretted, peering into the empty bath and the clear, placid water. “But try to have faith, Salem.”</p>
<p>She had to.</p>
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